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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1984)
Friday, October 19, 1984/The Battalion/Page 5 Summer cattle sales rise due to drought Warped By DIB WALDRIP Reporter The number of livestock auc tioned in August, September and October has increased 22 percent over 1983 because of the prolonged drought, Dr. Ray Dietrich, a live stock and meat marketing re searcher at Texas A&M,' said Wednesday. The number of cattle slaughtered in the summer of 1984 has also in creased. In the first week of August, the U.S. Department of Agriculure reported 699,000 head of cattle slaughtered in federally-inspected packing plants as compared to 688,000 in the first week of August last year. The increase in slaughter may cause beef prices at the meat counter to fall now, but rise again next spring because of a shortage of cattle being sent to slaughter at that time, Ray Riley, manager of the.Meat Sci ences and Technology Center said. Dr. Edward Uvacek, an A&M live stock marketing professor, said beef consumption “is up this year because the price levels are down just a hair Ray Riley, manager of the Meat Sciences and Tech nology Center said beef prices may fall now, but rise again next spring be cause of a cattle shortage. due to increased supply.” However, meat prices will rise at the retail level in January and Feb ruary because fewer cattle will be slaughtered this winter and next spring, Uvacek said. Ranchers are sending lighter-weight cattle to the feedlots, and the feeding period for them is longer, he said. Dietrich said a lot of ranchers are being forced to sell because they can’t afford to buy more feed. Because pasture grass supplies di minished with the drought, ranchers were forced to feed winter feed and hay reserves to cattle during the summer months, he said. Winter feed supplies have dwindled, forcing ranchers to sell part or all of their herds, he said. Ranchers have weaned and sold feeder calves that usually weigh 300- 500 pounds at weights of 150-250 because of the grass shortage, Di etrich said. The calves could not get necessary nutritional requirements to achieve maximum weight gain because cows were producing less milly due to re duced forage intake, he said. The number of mature breeding stock sold has doubled for this time of year also, Dietrich said. Ranchers normally sell some of their older cows before going into winter. Now some ranchers are being forced to sell younger cows as well, he said. The increased supply of cattle on the market has forced ranchers to take lower prices for their stock, but prices have gone up $l-$3 per hun dred weight because of recent rains, Dietrich said. If South and Central Texas re ceive ample spring rains, ranchers will be buying heifers and young cows to replace those sold this fall, and prices will rise noticeably, Di etrich said. by Scott McCullar SHOE by Jeff MacNelly WHAT IF D&FICK Ml# FlWREm TO 6£T PHASTEP IMTOOVTEIZSR^. WaWTTOAT 0£ GREAT? ,c //7 MOPE. IT£ NOT FAR ENOUGH. —TTv i!i Cj epublicans victorious in Aggie mock election a By JULIA HARDY Reporter The Republicans captured 77 per- entof the votes for their candidates in the MSC Political Forum’s mock (election Wednesday. Registered and non-registered ivoters were able to vote in the elec- , and some students reportedly oted more than once. Some of the egistered voters that voted in the lion mock election are not registered in Brazos County; therefore will not be able to vote for some of the candi dates on the mock election ballot. Political Forum program director, said 3,145 Texas A&M students and faculty members voted. The only four positions listed were U.S. presi dent, U.S. senator, U.S. representa tive and Texas representative. The winners, all Republicans, are as follows: Ronald Reagan beat Wal ter Mondale with 86 percent of the votes for president; Phil Gramm beat Lloyd Doggett with 80 percent of the votes for U.S. senator; Joe Barton beat Dan Kubiak with 71 percent of the votes for U.S. rep resentative; and Richard Smith beat Neeley Lewis with 71 percent of the votes for Texas representative. Proposition 2 was the fifth issue on the ballot. There were 79 percent in favor of the proposition, 15 percent were against it and 6 percent were undecided, Wearden said. Political Forum’s Special Events Coordinator Tim Fitzgibbon said all students, regardless of age, were en couraged to vote. “Hopefully, the mock election will increase the number of voters in the November election,” he said. Its main purpose is to inform stu dents who the candidates will be in frzZZZ2ZZZ2ZZZZ ZZZZ2ZZZZZ2ZZZZZZZZ 2ZZZZR the general election. Thus, students have time to make an accurate deci sion on who they want to elect, Fitz gibbon said. “You don’t want people that are voting to just recognize a name and know nothing about him,” he added. Voting tables were placed in the Commons, the Blocker Building, the Memorial Student Center and Sbisa Dining Hall. Voting was done be tween 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. The results came in Wednesday evening. Candidate choices were marked on a scantron, like student elections. Maps of the precincts and polling places for the November election were displayed at the voting tables, Fitzgibbon said. Some organizations, such as the Aggie GOP, were present near the voting tables so they could distribute propaganda and give in formation to the students. lime' ov i S r and eyi ^ miire jiH ‘ ’ l ord does is : necW of belli i lie jok red empfc* produci i tie ThisMl ling STEAKS & BURGERS COOKED OVER MESQUITE Live Entertainment Tues.-Sat. -no cover- jf' LATE WIGHT HAPPY HOUR! Tonight... □ Candidates for degrees in ChE, CS, EE, IE or ME. □ Candidates for MBA or technical degrees interested in marketing or systems engineering. ion )daf| nan Perfoi: S iviii i>f ^ n 30 a.m. ’ named ( i, widow« )mar i faculty a arch. | at the 1*1 ve physiol aluations «J ; staff to ll*! reel). 'We're talkin' some big time party'n here!' 9-12 p. m. Dinner Served 5:30-10 P.M. 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And give yourself a more comfort- Me } healthier outlook on life. • • • • - •- ' MSC— Room 212 any time between 10 am and 4 pm Monday, October 22nd is BLUE LETTER DAY Explore the Technical World at IBM. Representatives from a number of IBM locations will be available for informal discussions regarding your career goals and our requirements. You will have an opportunity to make arrangements for interviews to be conducted on Tuesday, October 23rd. You must, however, be registered with the Placement Office or the Cooperative Education Office. Casual attire is appropriate on October 22nd. Please bring 3 copies of your resume or Personal Data Sheet. U.S. citizenship or permanent residence is required for an interview. •Ac;.-' kv INNOVATIONS IN COIAFORT Earth Provision Co, I05 Boyett College Station 846-8794 An equal opportunity employer